Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Snowdrop Surprise

I did some botanizing with Barry Parker at an Ontario Heritage House. The property has a very well established mass of Galanthus nivalus ,singles and doubles. As you can see by the pics below there has been some cross pollination and colour forms evolving over the century theyve been growing. Maybe rare and unusual??? It was fun checking out all the clumps to see what was different.

3 comments:

2) A yellowish G. nivalis, but this looks to me to be a late-emerging, or deep-planted specimen that has not yet achieved full chlorophyll, rather than a true yellow(a 'cow-pat surprise' in Galanthophile-speak).

The pale-coloured doubles in 3 & 5 are curious: they may be from the same cause as above, but also suggest a not quite fully yellow 'Lady Elphinstone'. They all need to be observed in future seasons.

4- a very neat double that looks to me like G. plicatus x G. nivalis 'Flore Pleno', but need to see foliage etc.

6) an aberrant 'Flore Pleno' producing large petaloids.

Nothing strikingly unusual here, but always fun to test your eye in a large colony.

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About Me

Private Gardener to discerning clients,,,,Designer/builder of gardens in the Toronto region.Former Head Gardener of Toronto Botanical Garden.... An admitted plantaholic with the mantra "The right plant in the right place". Enjoy challenging locales to create a greener space. Dry shade anyone????